Measuring of a kinetic parameter that conveniently pertains to a motion of an object, is desirable in many fields.
Prior art solutions, such as optical navigation sensors, are limited to measure solely the differential movements of the object and are not capable of measuring the absolute location of the object, due to the accumulative measurement errors. In fact, in these systems/applications no measures are undertaken for compensating the measurement error (as actually it is not needed in the relevant applications) and calibration of the system during the course of a measurement cycle. Those systems/applications which do implement some forms of compensating for measurement errors usually implement costly solutions, which are not economical in many aspects and for many utilizations. There is a need, however, for reliable and simple means which takes into account measurement errors and thus allow for real time quick self-calibration of the measuring routine, so that the absolute position of the object can be accurately determined.
Accurate measurements of the position of objects are required in many innovative systems and applications such as virtual reality, robotics, game industry, computer accessory, medical and industrial devices. The capability of detecting the accurate location and velocity of various objects is of crucial importance for appropriate functioning of such systems. The current methods for position measurements include Hall Effect, optical fibers, strain gauge and resistance sensors. These methods suffer either from limited dynamic range, and/or accumulative measurement errors, and/or low accuracy, and/or high cost, and/or high volume/weight, and/or low reliability, and/or poor reproducibility.
In the medical field, measurement of one or more kinetic parameters is required for the recognition, identification and treatment in certain physiological phenomena or diseases.
For example, different sorts of tremor—an unintentional oscillatory muscle movement of one or more parts of the body—are better recognized, identified and treated by an accurate measurement of the kinetic parameters of the tremor. It is noted that the common tremors affect the hands, arms, head, face, torso, and legs, from which the most common is the hand tremor.
There is therefore a need to develop reliable and simple means of measuring motion, and there is also a need to develop reliable and simple means of measuring motion of an organ of a subject.